from Azuza Pacific University

Each year Cathleen Shrier, associate professor at Azusa Pacific University presents a special lecture on the science of Christ’s crucifixion. She details the physiological processes a typical crucified victim underwent and teaches her students to see Christ’s death on the cross with new understanding. The exact events in this scenario may not have happened in Jesus’ specific case, but the account is based on historical documentation of crucifixion procedures used during that time period. Please be aware that the following is of a realistic and graphic nature.

It is important to understand from the beginning that Jesus would have been in excellent physical condition. As a carpenter by trade, He participated in physical labor. In addition, He spent much of His ministry traveling on foot across the countryside. His stamina and strength were, most likely, very well developed. With that in mind, it is clear just how much He suffered: If this torture could break a man in such good shape, it must have been a horrific experience.

Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:37-42, Luke 22:39-44

After the Passover celebration, Jesus takes His disciples to Gethsemene to pray. During His anxious prayer about the events to come, Jesus sweats drops of blood. There is a rare medical condition called hematohidrosis, during which the capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands break down. Blood released from the vessels mixes with the sweat; therefore, the body sweats drops of blood. This condition results from mental anguish or high anxiety, a state Jesus expresses by praying “my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38). Hematohidrosis makes the skin tender, so Jesus’ physical condition worsens slightly.

Matthew 26:67-75, Mark 14:61-72, Luke 22:54-23:25, John 18:16-27

Traveling from Pilate to Herod and back again, Jesus walks approximately two and a half miles. He has not slept, and He has been mocked and beaten (Luke 22:63-65). In addition, His skin remains tender from the hematohidrosis. His physical condition worsens.

Matthew 27:26-32, Mark 15:15-21, Luke 23:25-26, John 19:1-28

Pilate orders Jesus to be flogged as required by Roman law before crucifixion. Traditionally, the accused stood naked, and the flogging covered the area from the shoulders down to the upper legs. The whip consisted of several strips of leather. In the middle of the strips were metal balls that hit the skin, causing deep bruising. In addition, sheep bone was attached to the tips of each strip.

When the bone makes contact with Jesus’ skin, it digs into His muscles, tearing out chunks of flesh and exposing the bone beneath. The flogging leaves the skin on Jesus’ back in long ribbons. By this point, He has lost a great volume of blood which causes His blood pressure to fall and puts Him into shock. The human body attempts to remedy imbalances such as decreased blood volume, so Jesus’ thirst is His body’s natural response to His suffering (John 19:28). If He would have drank water, His blood volume would have increased.

Roman soldiers place a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head and a robe on His back (Matthew 27:28-29). The robe helps the blood clot (similar to putting a piece of tissue on a cut from shaving) to prevent Jesus from sustaining more blood loss. As they hit Jesus in the head (Matthew 27:30), the thorns from the crown push into the skin and He begins bleeding profusely. The thorns also cause damage to the nerve that supplies the face, causing intense pain down His face and neck. As they mock Him, the soldiers also belittle Jesus by spitting on Him (Matthew 27:30). They rip the robe off Jesus’ back and the bleeding starts afresh.

Jesus’ physical condition becomes critical. Due to severe blood loss without replacement, Jesus is undoubtedly in shock. As such, He is unable to carry the cross and Simon of Cyrene executes this task (Matthew 27:32).

Matthew 27:33-56, Mark 15:22-41, Luke 23:27-49, John 19:17-37

Crucifixion was invented by the Persians between 300-400 B.C. It is quite possibly the most painful death ever invented by humankind. The English language derives the word “excruciating” from crucifixion, acknowledging it as a form of slow, painful suffering. Its punishment was reserved for slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries, and the vilest of criminals. Victims were nailed to a cross; however, Jesus’ cross was probably not the Latin cross, but rather a Tau cross (T). The vertical piece (the stipes) remains in the ground permanently. The accused carries only the horizontal piece (the patibulum) up the hill. Atop the patibulum lies a sign (the titulus), indicating that a formal trial occurred for a violation of the law. In Jesus’ case, this reads “This is the King of the Jews.”

The accused needed to be nailed to the patibulum while lying down, so Jesus is thrown to the ground, reopening His wounds, grinding in dirt, and causing bleeding. They nail His “hands” to the patibulum. The Greek meaning of “hands” includes the wrist. It is more likely that the nails went through Jesus’ wrists. If the nails were driven into the hand, the weight of the arms would cause the nail to rip through the soft flesh.

Therefore, the upper body would not be held to the cross. If placed in the wrist, the bones in the lower portion of the hand support the weight of the arms and the body remains nailed to the cross. The huge nail (seven to nine inches long) damages or severs the major nerve to the hand (the median nerve) upon impact. This causes continuous agonizing pain up both of Jesus’ arms.

Once the victim is secured, the guards lift the patibulum and place it on the stipes already in the ground. As it is lifted, Jesus’ full weight pulls down on His nailed wrists and His shoulders and elbows dislocate . In this position, Jesus’ arms stretch to a minimum of six inches longer than their original length.

It is highly likely that Jesus’ feet were nailed through the tops as often pictured. In this position (with the knees flexed at approximately 90 degrees),⁴ the weight of the body pushes down on the nails and the ankles support the weight. The nails would not rip through the soft tissue as would have occurred with the hands. Again, the nail would cause severe nerve damage (it severs the dorsal pedal artery of the foot) and acute pain.

Normally, to breathe in, the diaphragm (the large muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity) must move down. This enlarges the chest cavity and air automatically moves into the lungs (inhalation). To exhale, the diaphragm rises up, which compresses the air in the lungs and forces the air out (exhalation). As Jesus hangs on the cross, the weight of His body pulls down on the diaphragm and the air moves into His lungs and remains there. Jesus must push up on His nailed feet (causing more pain) to exhale.

In order to speak, air must pass over the vocal cords during exhalation. The Gospels note that Jesus spoke seven times from the cross. It is amazing that despite His pain, He pushes up to say “Forgive them.”

The difficulty surrounding exhalation leads to a slow form of suffocation. Carbon dioxide builds up in the blood, resulting in a high level of carbonic acid in the blood. The body responds instinctively, triggering the desire to breathe. At the same time, the heart beats faster to circulate available oxygen. The decreased oxygen (due to the difficulty in exhaling) causes damage to the tissues and the capillaries begin leaking watery fluid from the blood into the tissues. This results in a build-up of fluid around the heart (pericardial effusion) and lungs (pleural effusion). The collapsing lungs, failing heart, dehydration, and the inability to get sufficient oxygen to the tissues essentially suffocate the victim. The decreased oxygen also damages the heart itself (myocardial infarction) which leads to cardiac arrest. In severe cases of cardiac stress, the heart can even burst, a process known as cardiac rupture. Jesus most likely died of a heart attack.

After Jesus’ death, the soldiers break the legs of the two criminals crucified alongside Him, causing suffocation. Death would then occur quicker. When they came to Jesus, He was already dead so they did not break His legs. Instead, the soldiers pierced His side to assure that He was dead. In doing this, it is reported that “blood and water came out” (John 19:34), referring to the watery fluid surrounding the heart and lungs.

While these unpleasant facts depict a brutal murder, the depth of Christ’s pain emphasizes the true extent of God’s love for His creation. Teaching the physiology of Christ’s crucifixion is a constant reminder of the magnificent demonstration of God’s love for humanity that was expressed that day in Calvary. This lesson enables me to participate in communion, the remembrance of His sacrifice, with a grateful heart. I am struck every time with the stunning realization that as a flesh and blood human, Jesus felt every ounce of this execution. What greater love than this can a man have for his friends?

from https://www.apu.edu/articles/the-science-of-the-crucifixion/#:~:text=As%20Jesus%20hangs%20on%20the,the%20vocal%20cords%20during%20exhalation.

by Adrian Early

Breathing. We typically think nothing of it and take it for granted. That is until we have a hard time with it, or until someone we love is on their last breath. When this happens we are saddened and grieved–because the last breath means death. The last breath brings life to an end. However, when we hear the last words of Jesus before He breathed His last, there is a different emotion that should come over us. His last words were…

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Leading up to these words was a battle for the souls of humanity. From the garden of Gethsemane to the cross, Jesus had been feeling the separation from His eternal Father. This separation caused by the sin of humanity, punishable by death, was placed squarely on the shoulders of the perfect Son of God.

While hanging on the cross Jesus writhed in pain because of our sin. While hanging on the cross Jesus felt the consequences of sin for the billions who have walked this earth–and have yet to walk this earth. Yet His last phrase brought life and hope.

On the cross Jesus took His last breath, so that we could breathe our first. 

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sinsin which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:1-30

The spiritually dead cannot be raised to live unless someone who is able can raise them.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

Because Jesus committed His spirit to His Father in death anyone who  commits their life to following Him will have the Spirit of life breathed into them. 

One word in the Greek. Translated into three words in English. It came at the end of oppressive physical darkness, brought on by the Father. For three hours sin loomed large. Satan surely thought he had won. The evil work he started in the Garden of Eden was brought to a climax on the side of a street outside the city gate.

When God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden, God didn’t hole himself in the Garden. A thousand times no! Jesus left the comfort of heaven for the discomfort of earth and died outside the city gate so that we could enter the city gate. Through his death on the cross, he opened a way into the new Jerusalem, a city that will one day come down out of heaven, with twelve gates that never close! Heaven on earth.

How did Jesus accomplish such a remarkable feat? What was finished?

John Stott gives great insight about this:

Being in the perfect tense, it means “it has been and will for ever remain finished.” We note the achievement Jesus claimed just before he died. It is not men who finished their brutal deed; it is he who has accomplished what he came into the world to do. He has borne the sins of the world. Deliberately, freely and in perfect love he has endured the judgment in our place. He has procured salvation for us, established a new covenant between God and humankind, and made available the chief covenant blessing, the forgiveness of sins. At once the curtain of the temple, which for centuries had symbolized the alienation of sinners from God, was torn in two from top to bottom, in order to demonstrate that the sin barrier had been thrown down by God and the way into his presence opened.

John Stott, The Cross of Christ

The work of man does not last. It is temporary. The work of Jesus Christ lasts forever. Our punishment delivered to a sinless king. Thank you Jesus.

When thinking through Jesus’ desperate cry from the cross, I went searching to see what would have contributed to his extreme thirst. I found the following. I do plan to include the entire article in Good Friday’s post. (https://www.apu.edu/articles/the-science-of-the-crucifixion/) What Jesus endured is beyond description.

Each year, Cathleen Shrier, Ph.D., associate professor at Azusa Pacific University, presents a special lecture on the science of Christ’s crucifixion. She details the physiological processes a typical crucified victim underwent and teaches her students to see Christ’s death on the cross with new understanding. The exact events in this scenario may not have happened in Jesus’ specific case, but the account is based on historical documentation of crucifixion procedures used during that time period. Please be aware that the following is of a realistic and graphic nature.

It is important to understand from the beginning that Jesus would have been in excellent physical condition. As a carpenter by trade, He participated in physical labor. In addition, He spent much of His ministry traveling on foot across the countryside. His stamina and strength were, most likely, very well developed. With that in mind, it is clear just how much He suffered: If this torture could break a man in such good shape, it must have been a horrific experience.

After the Passover celebration, Jesus takes His disciples to Gethsemene to pray. During His anxious prayer about the events to come, Jesus sweats drops of blood. There is a rare medical condition called hematohidrosis, during which the capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands break down. Blood released from the vessels mixes with the sweat; therefore, the body sweats drops of blood. This condition results from mental anguish or high anxiety, a state Jesus expresses by praying “my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death”. Hematohidrosis makes the skin tender, so Jesus’ physical condition worsens slightly.

Traveling from Pilate to Herod and back again, Jesus walks approximately two and a half miles. He has not slept, and He has been mocked and beaten. In addition, His skin remains tender from the hematohidrosis. His physical condition worsens.

Pilate orders Jesus to be flogged as required by Roman law before crucifixion Traditionally, the accused stood naked, and the flogging covered the area from the shoulders down to the upper legs. The whip consisted of several strips of leather. In the middle of the strips were metal balls that hit the skin, causing deep bruising. In addition, sheep bone was attached to the tips of each strip.

When the bone makes contact with Jesus’ skin, it digs into His muscles, tearing out chunks of flesh and exposing the bone beneath. The flogging leaves the skin on Jesus’ back in long ribbons. By this point, He has lost a great volume of blood which causes His blood pressure to fall and puts Him into shock. The human body attempts to remedy imbalances such as decreased blood volume, so Jesus’ thirst is His body’s natural response to His suffering. If He would have drank water, His blood volume would have increased.

These are harrowing words, cried out in anguish from a son to his Father. Never had he known anything but love from his Father. He had never experienced anything but sweet harmony. Now, with the sky darkened at midday, Jesus cried out in anguish. He felt completely abandoned by the Father, the one he loved and the one who love him. Why? Isaiah answers that question.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

isaiah 53:4-6

On the cross, he was smitten by God so that we might live, forsaken by God that we might be accepted, suspended in utter darkness that we might live in radiant light. His wounds led to our healing. Our sins were this costly.

Tim Keller writes:

Christianity is the only religious faith that says that God himself actually suffered, actually cried out in suffering. Now what good is that? To Jesus’s followers assembled around the cross, it certainly seemed senseless: that there was no good in it at all. But in fact, they came to realize that Jesus’s suffering was of immense good to them, as can we. Why? Because they would eventually see that they had been looking right at the greatest act of God’s love, power, and justice in history. God came into the world and suffered and died on the cross in order to save us. It is the ultimate proof of his love for us.

The King’s cross, Tim Keller

The cross was the great exchange: our sin for God’s righteousness, Jesus’ rejection for our acceptance, Jesus’ disgrace for our grace, Jesus’ suffering for our healing.

Take a few moments today to thank Him. Let your heart overflow in love to one whose heart was pierced in love for you.

from Kevin Halloran (openthebible.org)

Lord, help me worship you with an undistracted heart.

Heavenly Father, this morning—and all of history—is about you. Please help me worship you with an undistracted heart. You know how my mind wanders to my upcoming week, present worries, and thoughts of others and other things. Help me put those thoughts away and focus on you and your glory. Would your Spirit cause my heart, soul, mind, and strength to exalt your Holy Name in my singing, listening to Your Word, and interacting with your people.

by Leslie Hester, Preschool Director

By Leslie Hester, Preschool Ministry Director

As a mother you spend years not only protecting your children, but also wondering if everything you are doing will help them become the person they are meant to be. You spend long nights praying for their future and hoping the help and advice you’ve given will be enough. As they grow you look back at “the hard years” thinking they were never going to end but they seemed to have passed little by little. You realize that those sleepless nights, when you and your baby are alone–you holding them, rocking them, are irretrievable. You will never get them back.

As they grow into school age years one day you wake up and realize they don’t need your help getting ready because they have gotten ready without you. Oh you would never dress them like that, but you’re proud of their independent spirit! Then you think to yourself, “If I could have just one more opportunity to help them; to tie their shoe, fix their lunches.”

Fast forward to the teenage years, you argue as they begin to grow into their own person and you wonder if you will both survive. Despite all of those disagreements and not seeing eye to eye as they leave your home, you often long wrap your arms around them and protect them from hurt while at the same time wonder if you have done enough to prepare them for what is to come. You think to yourself, “If I could just hold them one more time.”

Now put yourself in Mary’s shoes.  From the time she found out she was going to have a baby, she knew he was to be great and that he would be the savior of the world. She knew from her conversation with the angel in Luke that he would be great despite the mistakes all parents make… I mean they did leave him at the temple only to go back and find him not scared and looking for them but teaching. Although Mary was worried, she knew this was all part of what the angel had told her. In Luke 2:51 we are told that “she treasured all these things in her heart.” 

Fast forward to where Jesus is grown and starts performing miracles. If you’re a parent, you know how proud Mary must have felt, not in a prideful way but a “that’s my boy way” as he ministered to people through his healing and teaching. Then everything changes. The crowds who once followed him turned on him. The ones who shouted Hosanna now shout “crucify him!” Mary’s son is beaten, mocked and crucified. 

She is there through all of it. Does she longingly reflect on memories of his childhood, teen years (yes, Jesus was a teenager!), and his young adulthood? Regardless of our temptation to dehumanize Jesus, he was the son of a mother who loved him deeply and cared for him compassionately.

On the cross, all that changed. She couldn’t stop this. Jesus was dying for her! Her son was also her Savior. Her once newborn would now give her new life. The one who depended on her for food and a roof over his head would become for her the bread of life and go to prepare a place for her. Everything changed. Everything.

In the middle of the greatest and most awful moment in human history, Jesus remembered her. Dying for the sins of humanity (and Mary’s too), Jesus made sure she would now have a roof over her head and food on her plate. Looking at his best friend, John, he said, “Woman, behold your son.” In other words, Mary, John will take care of you now. 

What humanity and divinity–Jesus, the God-man dying for Mary his mother.

Woman, behold your son.

None of us would have chosen him as the first invitee into the kingdom of God…at least the first one during or after the crucifixion. Yet, he is the poster child of the Christian faith. An unnamed criminal, undergoing the brutal torture of crucifixion, guilty of crimes that landed him on a busy street outside Jerusalem, an example for others to who not to be.

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Luke 23:39-43, ESV

How did this unnamed criminal go from his own cross to paradise? We can’t overcomplicate this. This unnamed criminal owned his own sin. He tells the other taunting criminal, “And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds.” No one has ever entered heaven who did not first own his sin. No one ever will. It is the beginning point of every new follower of Jesus.

Second, this criminal believed Jesus was sinless. But this man has done nothing wrong. While the other criminal railed at Jesus, this man revered him. While the religious leaders reviled Jesus, telling him to save himself if he is the Messiah, this man requested that Jesus remember him. This man looked at a bleeding Jesus and saw a king.

Jesus hears that kind of prayer every time. Humility always gets God’s attention. Blown it? You’re in good company. So had the criminal. Yet he went with Jesus to paradise.

Final words. Seven statements uttered by Jesus in his most trying moments from the cross. The first, a prayer to God for those conducting his own crucifixion. Today (I wrote this on Wednesday) as I was riding to work and listening to the news, they shared the story of two cops sentenced to twenty years for beating and shooting two black men. The acts were atrocious, the sentiment behind them abhorrent. What caught the news’ attention was this: one of the cops apologized at his sentencing and one of the black men forgave him.

Forgiveness is newsworthy.

We are most like beasts when we kill.
We are most like men when we judge.
We are most like God when we forgive.

william arthur ward

Jesus knew that those executing him did not know who he was. And as a result, they did not know what they were doing. They were crucifying the creator! Mocking their maker. Casting lots for the clothes of the one who provided the very air they breathed and their own ability to clothe themselves.

They didn’t know.

Jesus’ words raise two questions for us: Can we ask God to forgive someone who is unknowingly hurting us. (or even knowingly). Can we forgive like Jesus?

Lisa TerKeurst, in her book Forgiving what You Can’t Forget, writes:

Staying here, blaming them, and forever defining your life by what they did will only increase the pain. Worse, it will keep projecting out onto others. The more our pain consumes us, the more it will control us. And sadly, it’s those who least deserve to be hurt whom our unresolved pain will hurt the most.

Who do you need to forgive? What hurt are you holding onto that is squeezing the life out of you? Are you willing to ask the Father to forgive them for hurting you? And then leave it with him?

Jesus was. And still is.

When someone is near death we lean in and listen. Final words have a sense of gravity. When someone is struggling to breathe, their choice of words is most intentional. Jesus’ words from the cross, comprised of 7 statements, ought to cause us to lean in and listen.

Over the next week we will take a closer look at each of these statements. For today, take a few moments and let these settle into your soul.

Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.

Today, you will be with me in paradise.

Woman, behold your son, son behold your mother.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

I thirst!

It is finished!

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

Here are a few observations. The first two statements address awful sinners, undeserving recipients of God’s grace. (the ones crucifying Jesus and one of the criminals). The third (woman, behold your son) addresses Jesus’ own mother and Jesus’ desire that she be cared for. The fourth is a cry of a child to his Father. Its personal nature (my God) shows the deep love between Jesus and his Father. The seventh is similar (Father, into your hands I commit my spirit). The fifth shows Jesus’ humanity. He was a thirsty, dying man. The sixth is an announcement to the world, to Satan and his demons, to the Father in Heaven, and to all who would hear. The work is completed. It. Is. Finished.

Tomorrow we will look at Jesus’ willingness to forgive the ones who committed the awful crime of crucifying him. What a Savior we have.